tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post4816678289283265319..comments2024-03-28T05:59:52.454-07:00Comments on TalkToYoUniverse: Edible Babies?Juliette Wadehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-3416068021501814352010-08-03T08:43:26.687-07:002010-08-03T08:43:26.687-07:00Interesting thoughts. I call my son "punkin&q...Interesting thoughts. I call my son "punkin", not quite pumpkin, since he was never that roly poly, but my own variation. I never heard the biting the cheeks, but we did joke about nibbling his toes. (Still do some, but more of a prelude to tickling his feet)<br /><br />My mother-in-law's nickname for my husband was "tiger." Still uses it occasionally, too, though it's funny when she's uses it for the little one without thinking about it.Jaleh Dhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04942272578488986874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-2017449428157022572010-08-02T15:07:57.618-07:002010-08-02T15:07:57.618-07:00Athena, thanks for commenting! I think there are ...Athena, thanks for commenting! I think there are more endearments in English than just food-related ones (fortunately!). On the other hand, I love the endearments you listed. Thanks for the book recommendation; it sounds fascinating.Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-864500004769455672010-08-02T11:16:56.281-07:002010-08-02T11:16:56.281-07:00Swift's Modest Proposal is one of the most bit...Swift's Modest Proposal is one of the most biting satires in human history. As for babies, endearments are largely cultural and the food connections may have to do with the rather impoverished English love vocabulary. Greeks call their children (and their lovers) my soul, my heart, light of my eyes, my singing bird, my golden nugget, my star, my life, my sun. Germans and Russians have equivalent endearments, so it's not just us emo Mediterraneans.<br /><br />Donald Kingsbury's tremendous novel Courtship Rite contains literally edible babies: humanity has settled a planet whose flora/fauna is mostly poisonous; one outcome is disciplined cannibalism.Athena Andreadishttp://www.starshipreckless.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-31200171537152400172010-08-01T18:11:26.886-07:002010-08-01T18:11:26.886-07:00LOL! My mom called us all "pumpkin".
If...LOL! My mom called us all "pumpkin".<br /><br />If I hadn't known Swift was Irish, I'd have been shocked - which I'm sure was his intent.Deb Salisbury, Magic Seeker and Mantua-Makerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01513482264195697450noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-29624472518051707122010-08-01T08:59:19.956-07:002010-08-01T08:59:19.956-07:00Thanks for the comments, guys! I have also had th...Thanks for the comments, guys! I have also had the occasion to wince as ladies offered to pinch and/or bite my daughter's cheeks. Still I think it's an extreme form of the intimacy gesture! Thanks for sharing the C.J. Cherryh example. <br /><br />Actually, Brad, I think it does. My brother had a food-related nickname too. On the other hand, these seem to be more idiosyncratic and less widespread or standardized.<br /><br />[After my husband's reaction to the Swift piece, I feel I should point out that gruesome as it seems, it was actually written as a satirical criticism of the English exploitative treatment of the Irish at the time it was written.]Juliette Wadehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02879627074920760712noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-72034240839463104332010-08-01T06:42:50.668-07:002010-08-01T06:42:50.668-07:00Does it count that I call my boys "Children M...Does it count that I call my boys "Children McNuggets"?Bradhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10646548242753417196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320269312957801390.post-46043699110627973972010-07-31T23:25:43.543-07:002010-07-31T23:25:43.543-07:00Well, I'm not about to claim that food nicknam...<i>Well, I'm not about to claim that food nicknames have any literal cannibalistic meaning.</i><br /><br />I don't know. When my daughter was born two years ago, I was surprised at the number of women who kept saying how they wanted to bite her cheeks. Not having been around women who were obsessed with a newborn baby, I found all this talk rather peculiar at the time. (Fortunately, as my daughter's gotten older the cheek-biting talk has dropped off over time.)<br /><br /><i>Another alternative might be to consider physical expressions of intimacy that don't involve the mouth...</i><br /><br />Although it did involve the mouth, I was fascinated with some scenes in C.J. Cherryh's <i>Cuckoo's Egg</i>, in which two of the "alien" Shonunin characters licked the eyes of the human child as a means of bonding to that child.JDsghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04735390644321868222noreply@blogger.com